Via the BU Daily Free Press:
Ross defends ‘No More Than Four’
Although City Council President Mike Ross said he values students as constituents, he remained unwavering on his “No More Than Four” initiative, which restricts off-campus student housing based on quality of life concerns for residents.
Ross, who represents District 8, which includes Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, and Mission Hill, discussed the different issues affecting Boston on Monday at the George Sherman Union to an audience of 30 students in a discussion organized by the Roosevelt Institute.
The “No More Than Four” mandate, which prohibits more than four undergraduates from living together in a single-family unit, benefits permanent Boston residents by preventing overcrowding and poor living conditions brought on by converted units or too many students, Ross said.
While other concerns included education, the integration of college students with the community and public transportation, the “No More Than Four” policy was the main issue discussed.
Permanent residents are being driven out of the city after losing their homes due to the great influx of out-of-state students into the Boston-area universities, Ross said.
Speculating landlords increase the occupancy capacity of their properties and rent apartments to groups of students, who are willing to pay more than regular residents relative to higher on-campus prices, he said.
“People started losing their rented homes,” Ross said.
The artificially-increased property values cause higher taxes, increasing the cost of living, he said, which in turn drives permanent residents and recent graduates out of the city.
However, Ross said the “No More Than Four” ordinance benefits students as well, as the landlords of over-populated apartments do not care about students’ safety and rent out old apartments.
Ross said he does not intend to discriminate against students, who are a positive asset for communities, energizing the community and reporting crimes at hours when regular residents would not be awake.
“Students are a good influence for the city,” he said. “They are eyes for the city.”
On his blog, “The Ross Report,” Ross said he recognizes that students only want affordable housing; nevertheless, he said college students are making small neighborhoods uninhabitable due to their rowdiness.
“I’m not going to bat so you can have your keg parties,” he said when questioned on the issue. “I have no respect for people who have no respect for others.”
Ross said he commends BU for providing a great deal of on-campus housing. Unlike Northeastern University and Suffolk University, which he said respectively provide about 50 percent and 15 percent of their students with on-campus housing, BU provides housing to about 80 percent of its students.
Ross said students are part of “an inspirational generation” who have “continued to remind America when they’ve been right or wrong,” he said.
“[Society] can’t live without you,” he said.
Ross said he is concerned with Boston’s inability to retain graduates in the area.
“The population is aging in place,” he said.
Junior Amy Baral and sophomore Anna Ward, both of the College of Arts and Sciences and Roosevelt Institute co-presidents, said they invited Ross because it gave students the opportunity to hear someone talk about firsthand experience with policymaking.
“We felt student should know their representatives, have an opportunity to interact with them and bring up issues,” Baral said.
Executive Director of Student Activities John Battaglino said Ross addressed points of concern for students.
“He did a real good job,” he said. “He has students’ interests in mind and students should have the opportunity to challenge the councilor because they are part of his neighborhood.”
Cross-posted at Roosevelt Institute at Boston University (RCN):
n 1993, the National Voter Registration Act (commonly known as the Motor Voter Law), was signed by President Clinton. The Motor Voter Law allow for voter registration to occur in a place where most Americans spend an ungodly amount of time waiting – the DMV.
The goal of the Motor Voter Law was to increase voter registration by allowing citizens to register to vote when they renew their licenses, apply for plates, or any other activity that takes them into the offices of the DMV.
However, one area where the NVRA has failed is in the registration of teenagers. Most teenagers in the US will troop down to the DMV to pick up their first driving license sometime around the ages of 16 and 17. Unfortunately, US law notes that citizens must be 18 years old to vote, and 18 years old at the time of the election in order to register to vote (effectively, one can register before he or she is 18 so long as during the upcoming election cycle, that voter will have turned 18 on or before election day). The Motor Voter Law, designed to make it easier for people to register to vote – does nothing to help the scores of teenagers receiving their licenses for the first time. The law does not apply to them. They do not qualify because they are too young.
California is currently working on changing the way their system works, following in the footsteps of states like Florida, Louisiana, and Hawaii. AB 30 – a bill that has been passed through the California legislature (on strictly partisan lines, all Democrats voting for, all Republicans voting against) – is currently sitting on the desk of Governor Schwarzenegger, waiting to be signed.
The bill allows 17-year-old to preregister to vote at the DMV at they time they get their license. This preregistration will ensure that all new teen drivers will have the opportunity to fully use the resources of the DMV (that have been provided with federal funds through the Motor Voter Law) to register to vote while receiving their license and be able to vote in their first election once they turn 18 without having to worry about trooping down to town hall to fill out the necessary forms.
AB 30 and similar plans already in place in other states allow for the full application of the NVRA to all citizens using the DMV – young people, just like everyone else should be able to use the DMV’s voter registration resources to register to vote, even if they are doing so a year or two before the election in which they will actually vote. The NVRA was designed to make the process of registering to vote easier – except, state law and procedures exclude many teenagers from pre-registering, effectively excluding them being able to register at the DMV. California should pass this law and other states should follow suit. Young people are the voices of the future- isn’t it important to get them involved in politics at a young age, so that they can begin to exercise their right to vote?
Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne argues:
Sub-Saharan Africa, despite its long history of food insecurity, is one place where yields could increase dramatically; agricultural basics such as good seed and fertilizer would go far in a region that the green revolution bypassed. “We could increase yields in sub-Saharan Africa threefold tomorrow with off-the-shelf technology,” says Kenneth Cassman, a well-regarded agronomist who researches potential yields. The problem is the continent’s long history of corruption, poor infrastructure, and lack of market access.
Agricultural investment in Africa—and in a few other high-potential places such as Ukraine and Russia—may be the world’s best bet for keeping food plentiful and cheap.
Does anyone see the problem with both Shelburne and Cassman’s analysis?
To start with – the agricultural problems of sub-Saharan Africa cannot be entirely blamed on corruption, poor infrastructure, or lack of market access. It’s the weather stupid! The weather in Africa – mostly dealing with the rains – is highly unpredictable, with droughts being known to occur as often as once every 10 years. African soil is not like the rich soil of the American midwestern breadbasket- it is tough and hard to farm with because it lack inherent nutrients. Unless you want your food to be so filled with preservatives so that it doesn’t event taste like normal food – then stay clear of expecting an huge growth in agriculture output from Africa any time soon,
And if you are one of those venture capitalists looking for a new agriculture spot on which to invest your lifesavings -you can pick Africa if you want, but just wait until the first drought. Nothing in agricultural technology developed thus-far has been able to solve Africa’s drought problem, so you’ll be up against a hard enemy.
Val’s coverage of Congressman Larson’s town hall yesterday in my hometown. Taking down the critics, one by one:
Yesterday, I attended the town hall health care forum with Congressman John Larson and an excellent panel of speakers. I happen to come across a blog post by Rick Green on his Courant.com blog, CTConfidential, entitled, “Paranoia runs deep: Read memo from CT Tea Party Central!.” Green’s commentary focuses on a memo that was sent to “Liberty Supporters” about yesterday’s event. The memo states that:
“[T]here were many of our people who showed up at the West Hartford town hall and although we were not allowed to go inside – because the room was packed with Obamacare supporters…we had plenty of people outside protesting and shouting down the other side.
Larson’s folks bused people in – I hear that some came from Massachusetts. There were a bunch of kids – like 12 year olds … also SEIU people and Planned Parenthood people and union employees … plus some high school and college kids – who clearly did not know what they were asking for or what this issue is really about.” Full article.
I am a proud resident of West Hartford, Connecticut. I say proud because residents in my town, like many others, have a longtime reputation for being actively involved in our community. We regularly come out to town hall gatherings to hear from our elected officials and others on any given issue that is important to us. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we have one of the best K-12 public school systems in the country, and enjoy one of the highest voter turnout rates in our state. Moreover, when there is a town hall gathering on a critical issue close to us all, we all know to arrive early, or at the very least on time, to ensure that we get not just a seat, but a good seat.
There were no buses at yesterday’s event. There was a large representation from the community (and the first CD), i.e., elderly/retired citizens, small business owners, families, clergy, students, community activists, elected officials, as well as groups and organizations that are, in fact, a part of every community. In other words, do some of us belong to unions, to organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, AARP? Are some of us community activists, members of the Faith community, and more? Are some of us students? Do we come out as a family? Yes to all of these and more.
As for those who oppose some of the proposals of health insurance reform, I found that the majority of these individuals stayed clear of a relatively small group of loud hecklers. Once inside, one man who stated that he opposed health care reform called out for hecklers in the rear of the room to stop heckling so that we could hear what the speaker was saying. It was clear that the majority of participants, regardless of their personal viewpoint, wanted to hear from Congressman Larson and the excellent panel that was there.
Rallies are all about a call to action for a cause through signs, slogans, buttons, stickers, handouts etc. Prior to the forum, both sides rallied outside on the green in front of town hall.
Just prior to the forum, supporters of health insurance reform hosted a press conference outside on the front steps of town hall. Clergy and speakers did their best to be heard over those who shouted at them in opposition. The most heart-wrenching scene was the shouting at a person who shared their story of health insurance denial, sickness, loss and despair by those in opposition stating that they did not care about that person’s problems. This is heartless and shows a complete lack of humanity in every way.
To disagree on an issue or policy proposal on how we will accomplish health insurance reform provides for a healthy debate and allows for a diverse pool of thoughts and ideas, when done constructively. To deliberately stop the flow of dialog at all costs, to disparage those who, of no consequence of their own doing, become victims of our broken health insurance system, is despicable and unconscionable behavior that creates no value for anyone.
We must all call on our sense of humanity and engage in meaningful dialog. It matters not what our personal viewpoint on health insurance reform is. We are all in this boat together and there is a hole in the floor of the boat called health insurance costs. If we do not act constructively to close that hole, we will all sink.
Filed under: Elections
Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Underhill ruled in favor of the Green Party in a case that was brought to court soon after Connecticut public financing system was passed in 2005.
Underhill ruled that the Citizens’ Election Program places an undue burden on minor party candidates seeking to qualify for the CEP’s grants. CT News Junkie, who first broke the story, writes:
The Citizens Election Program “imposes an unconstitutional, discriminatory burden on minor party candidates’ First Amendment-protected right to political opportunity,” Underhill wrote in his decision.
In the 138-page decision, Underhill concluded that the system provided candidates with “windfall levels” of funding for their campaigns, artificially enhanced the strength of the two major parties, made it difficult for minor party candidates to qualify, and discouraged minor party candidates from participating.
What does all of this mean? Well in the short term it means a suspension of the Citizens’ Election Program under court order and an appeal of the case. But as My Left Nutmeg contemplates, what happens after that?
For legal changes to Chapter 157, in order to make the Citizens’ Election Program constitutional:
Underhill suggested a drafting guide for a campaign finance law that would be constitutional. He used 3/4/5% thresholds of signature and/or previous vote totals for minor party participation in the CEP, as recommended by Jeffrey Garfield [the director of the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which administers the Citizens' Election Program], instead of the current 10/15/20%.
For the future of public financing in Connecticut elections:
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the General Assembly to pass that kind of reform – narrowly tailored to meet compelling government interests. We stay at status quo.
The legislature won’t shoulder this yoke again until after the 2010 gubernatorial. No special session will occur this fall to craft a new bill, as the appeal will be pending.
Furthermore, if the House and Senate wait to the spring session, it will be too deep into the campaign season to be applicable. So it will be 2014 before we see a publicly financed gubernatorial run.
And in the end, 2011 seems like the first year that the Connecticut legislature will take a stab at recrafting Chapter 157, due to political considerations in the 2010 election (what Republican do you know that supports public financing – aside from maybe John McCain?). A spring 2011 passage of an new bill may be cutting it close to put the program into practice for the 2012 state elections, so it looks like 2014 – a year of state-wide and state legislator elections maybe the next time that the CEP gets put into practice. Four years from now, the work that was accomplished this summer will be worked on again.
Anyone who lives in West Hartford or is looking to buy a house in West Hartford, could tell you that the main draw to this lovely town if ours is the great schools. People are willing to take out huge mortgages and pay well above the average for homes in West Hartford because it means they don’t necessarily have to send their children to area private schools.
The cost of education as part of the cost of a home, not necessarily any economist or politician’s first thought when it comes to the housing bubble and the subprime crisis, but one that should definitely be considered:
Education There’s a lot of focus on the interest rate deduction that is embedded inside a mortgage. I think the most obvious embedded option inside a mortgage that isn’t discussed is the option to educate your children at the local school district. If sending 3 kids to a private high school at your old houses costs $5,000/year, and if the new house’s public high school is free and equally good then taking a $60,000 bath on the house is break-even. Completely rational.
The value of this option has increased, both with the returns to education but also with a general worry about the robustness of our educational meritocracy. The amount of money and energy that goes into securing access to high-end education has skyrocketed over the past decade, and part of that budget, though it isn’t treated as such, is in your house. And though we often think of educational inequality as a function of a Kozol-narrative of the poorest against the richest, this bidding may be most driven by inequality between the middle and the highest parts of the inequality curve. I’d really like to see some hard research into how much our desire to educate our children in the best way possible has driven subprime and the housing bubble.
At Netroots Nation:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14TH 4:30 PM – 5:45 PMPANEL, 301/302Every four decades, America’s demand for change puts in motion a political realignment or makeover. Like all others before it, this realignment results from the coming of age of a new generation of young Americans and the emergence of new online organizing tools. Almost everything about American politics and government—voting patterns, the fortunes of the two political parties, the issues that engage the nation, and our government and its public policy—will change because of these two forces. This panel will feature presentations by Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, and Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, co-authors of “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, You Tube, and the Future of American Politics.” Rosenberg will discuss the parameters and implications of this “Dawn of a New Politics” in America, and Winograd and Hais will detail the contours and causes of the country’s five previous political realignments. This panel will examine the impact the Millennial Makeover has on the elections, issues, and public policies that will characterize America’s government and politics in the decades ahead.
Filed under: Health and Wellness
Wondering about some of the things you’ve heard about the new healthcare plan. The AP brings together the claims and the facts:
CLAIM: The Democrats’ plans will lead to rationing, or the government determining which medical procedures a patient can have.
“Expanding government health programs will hasten the day that government rations medical care to seniors,” conservative writer Michael Cannon said in the Washington Times.
THE FACTS: Millions of Americans already face rationing, as insurance companies rule on procedures they will cover.
Denying coverage for certain procedures might increase under proposals to have a government-appointed agency identify medicines and procedures best suited for various conditions.
Obama says the goal is to identify the most effective and efficient medical practices, and to steer patients and providers to them. He recently told a forum: “We don’t want to ration by dictating to somebody, ‘OK, you know what? We don’t think that this senior should get a hip replacement.’ What we do want to be able to do is to provide information to that senior and to her doctor about, you know, this is the thing that is going to be most helpful to you in dealing with your condition.”
Filed under: Elections
Jeff Garfield, the Executive Director of the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission (aka, where I work at my internship) is testifying today in Congress about public financing of campaigns
Event Title: “A look at HR 1826 and the Public Financing of Congressional Campaigns” Event Description:
Committee on House Administration Hearing on “A look at HR 1826 and the Public Financing of Congressional Campaigns”Start Date: 7/30/2009 End Date: 7/30/2009 Start Time: 11:00 AM End Time: 1:00 AM
